


Christmas Time and the River

by orphan_account



Series: Vesskarverse [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Community: au_bingo, Gen, Girls with Guns, Spaceships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-23
Updated: 2011-10-23
Packaged: 2017-10-24 21:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rassilon gives renegade Time Lady Riversongvesskar of the House of Blyledge an offer she can't pass up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Time and the River

**Author's Note:**

> au_bingo prompt: space stations/ships
> 
> Rejected draft for christmasbang, reused for au_bingo.

_This is Lord President Rassilon. All Time Lords were supposed to report home from Gallifrey, but I’m hoping there are a few Time Lords out there that maybe…didn’t play by the rules._

A Time Lady wearing a jean jacket and jeans turned on her monitor in her War TARDIS. Rassilon appeared on the monitor.

“Hello, Lord President Rassilon.”

“And whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

“Riversongvesskar of the House of Blyledge, member of the Prydon Chapter. Gallifrey’s most infamous intergalactic bounty hunter.”

“And why didn’t you want to participate in the Last Great Time War?” Rassilon’s voice was playful.

“I have better things to do than make Daleks explode every other day, Lord President. And wars don’t pay...unless you supply the weapons.”

“Oh. You will be duly punished, but you are one of the lucky ones. The Last Great Time War has ended.”

“Already?”

“Already. It seems another member of your chapter, the Time Lord known as the Doctor, put a time lock on the whole planet to stop the war. Anyone in the time lock cannot escape it."

“Why do you need me to break the lock?”

“Before the Doctor applied the lock we were planning to leave the planet. We’re looking for other planets to colonize and recreate Gallifreyan society. We need a planet, a planet with ideal living conditions for Time Lords.” Under his breath he whispered “Like Earth.” “Which brings me to you, Riversongvesskar. I need you to bring in the Doctor and make him break this lock. Gallifrey is slowly dying, and we cannot look for another planet to populate if the Doctor does not break the lock.”

“Where is the Doctor now?”

“I assume he is on his favourite planet in the universe, Earth, quite possibly somewhere in England. Your capsule should be able to target his exact whereabouts. Look for a very outdated TARDIS—a type 40, shaped like an English police box from the 1960s. It’s otherwise known as the TARDIS. You won’t miss it.”

“And my bounty?”

Rassilon stroked his chin. “Your bounty?...I will make you a member of my government. I’ll find you a prized position in it.”

“I prefer my freedom and money, Lord President. I always tell my clients this.”

“Well, if it’s freedom and money you desire, I can make you my permanent bounty hunter and assassin once you return the Doctor to Gallifrey.”

“I accept your offer, Lord President.”

“There’s just one thing I need you to do before you go to Earth. I need you to use your Chameleon Arch.”

“My Chameleon Arch?”

“If he senses you’re a Time Lord, he’ll know you’ll be up to something. You should remember how to use your Chameleon Arch from your days in the Academy.”

“Yes, Lord President.”

“Godspeed, Riversongvesskar.” Rassilon signed off.

Riversongvesskar lowered the Chameleon Arch on her TARDIS. A fob watch was attached to the arch. She placed her head in the arch and started it.

The last thing she remembered as Riversongvesskar was the sound of her scream filling up her TARDIS.

  
 _Christmas 2004, I.M. Foreman’s scrapyard, 76 Totter’s Lane_

A woman in an SUV pulled up beside a tip in the scrapyard. Beside the tip was a pile of items—a chair, an easel, a smock, a chess set (with the chess pieces and clock in a bag) and a cheap-looking powdered wig—and a police box. The man beside the pile of items, who had short cropped hair and was wearing a Victorian-era jacket, picked up the chair and raised it above his head. He threw it into the tip.

The woman pulled out some broken items from her SUV—a broken stroller, television and bicycle—and put them beside her SUV. She looked at the man, who was now heaving the easel into the tip.

“Do you need any help?” the woman asked. “I only have a few things I need to put in this tip.”

“Thanks, but I don’t really need any help. I can do this on my own.”

“Are you sure? There’s something suspicious about a man who’s not at home on Christmas with his family.”

“But I am home.” He smiled. “Just getting rid of a few old things, that’s all.”

“Throwing out perfectly good items? Looks like something terrible has happened to you.”

“How did you know? You wouldn’t understand what I went through if I told you.”

“I could understand.” River walked to the police box. “I’m River.”

“Like River Phoenix? Though you look like you were born in the 60s. Maybe you were a flower child. Oh well.”

“I still don’t get why you’re throwing out perfectly fine chairs and easels in a tip. You don’t want to donate those things to goodwill?”

“One of my friends had that chair. He’s not around anymore—he died a long time ago, back in 1981, I think. I don’t know anyone else who needs the chair, so I’m throwing it away and trying to make space in the...in my home.”

“You live in a police box?”

The man heaved the chair into the tip. “Yes. I live in a police box by a tip.”

“Then how’d you get that easel and chair out of the police box?”

The man hesitated. “I live underground and the police box is my entrance. Oi, do you have the time?”

River pulled out a fob watch from her jacket pocket. It had circular markings on them.

“Your watch.”

“What about it? It was my father’s.”

“It’s not your father’s. It’s a Chameleon Arch. I thought I destroyed all of you in the Time War.”

“‘You?’ I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

River started to walk away. The man grabbed her right arm.

“You’re a Time Lady. The Time Lords, the Gallifreyans—you were supposed to die in the Time War, but instead, you somehow survived.”

“What Time Lady?”

The man snatched the fob watch from the woman’s hand. He smiled, although he still was visibly stressed out. “Let’s find out.” He examined the watch, which had Circular Galliefreyan symbols written on it. “Your watch—it says ‘I am Riversongvesskar of Gallifrey, member of the House of Blyledge, member of the Prydon Chapter and I am a bounty hunter.’ I’m curious—what else does River of Gallifrey do?”  
The man opened the fob watch. Visions of River’s life came back to her. She remembered the orange night time skies and silver trees prior to going to the Time Lord Academy. Then she remembered when she was a young Time Lord, being taken away from her family to go to the Academy. She tried to fight and yell her way back to them, but they didn’t want her to come back to them. She knew exactly what she wanted to study at the age of 25, much earlier than her peers—archaeology. She remembered forming her bond with her TARDIS. She remembered graduating the Academy, shortly before the Time War broke out. Finally, she remembered taking her War TARDIS off course, having adventures going to galaxies arresting intergalactic criminals and picking fights with various species in the galaxy—Autons, Cybermen, Sontarians, Daleks—the call from Rassilon, and the pain she felt while going through the Chameleon Arch.

“I believe you’re here to capture me. For who—Rassilon? Tell him I said hello. And nice to meet you Riversongvesskar—can I call you River?”

“No.”

“I’m the Doctor.”

The Doctor grabbed the powdered wig and ran into his TARDIS. River ran back to her SUV—her War TARDIS in disguise. She grabbed a gun in its holder, put it around her waist and followed him. As River stepped into the TARDIS, the Doctor threw the powdered wig in River’s face and ran past the console room, newly grown and sparser than the Doctor’s last console room. River threw the wig on the floor of the TARDIS and followed him.

The Doctor ran down the halls of the TARDIS until he turned into a room. River followed him into it. It was the white-walled console room the Doctor used in his fourth incarnation. River slowly walked around it, looking at the acquainted interior of this control room. She had her hand on her gun as she walked around.

“En guarde!” the Doctor shouted behind her. River turned around and saw the Doctor holding a fishing rod. The Doctor stared at the rod. “I really thought this guy had actual swords in his closet."

River took out her gun and pointed it at the Doctor. “You may as well give up, Doctor. I’ve captured you and you are going to free Gallifrey from the time lock.”

The Doctor pointed the fishing rod in River’s face, pushing her back. “You know, I never was a fan of guns, River.” He attempted to swat the gun out of River’s hand. “I have some bananas in the rest room. Would you like a banana? It’s easier to hold than a gun.”

“No. I don’t do bananas on the first date.”

“Too bad. I would’ve invited you in for a banana milkshake. Goodbye, River!”

The Doctor pushed River out of the Fourth Doctor’s control room. Buzzer and lights flashed around the TARDIS—the Doctor was watching this door with his Early Warning System. He shut the door, turned off the warning system and dematerialized away from the junkyard.

River threw away her broken stroller, television and stroller into the tip. She hopped back into her War TARDIS and tracked the Doctor’s TARDIS with her Time Path Indicator.


End file.
